N900 Install

Mer installation

Mer Image

The latest release as of this post is 0.17testing4.

# you need an ext3 formated MicroSD card.
mount -o noatime /dev/mmcblk1p1 /media/mmc1/

# go hence
cd /media/mmc1/

wget http://stskeeps.subnetmask.net/mer/0.17testing4/mer-armel-generic-image-v0.17testing4.tar.gz

# Untar it verbally to see the majick.
# Note this will create dirs like ./usr and ./lib etc, so you don't want stuff pre-existing in those dirs.
tar zxvf mer-armel-generic-image-v0.17testing4.tar.gz

# sync and live free!
sync

bootmenu

You need to have getbootstate version 1.0.35+0m5 or greater for this to work.

dpkg -l getbootstate

(As a side note, getbootstate is close software. Please vote for this bug and/or clamour for it to be released as free software.)

discussion on t.m.o

# Grab this package:
wget http://www.daimi.au.dk/~cvm/bootmenu_1.6_armel.deb

# Be root
sudo gainroot

# Install bootmenu
dpkg -i bootmenu_1.6_armel.deb

Then tappy tap tap the bootmenu install icon and answer yes.

Now you need to set up Mer in the menu for bootmenu. See also: Mer bootmenu docs.

I put everything on the first and only partition on an ext3 formatted "external" MicroSD card (the one that's right next to the camera).

# edit/create this file to create a boot menu item for Mer:
vim /etc/bootmenu.d/mer.ext.item

# Make it look justa lika thisa:

# will be shown in the bootmenu
ITEM_NAME="Mer on external card, p1"
# needs to be an unique string to identify this item
ITEM_ID="mer"
# which hardware device and partition should be booted. 
# use ${EXT_CARD} for the external card (slot) or ${INT_CARD} for the internal mmc
# followed by p3 for partition three
ITEM_DEVICE="${EXT_CARD}p1"
# which modules to load at boottime
ITEM_MODULES="mbcache jbd ext3"
# filesystem used on that partition
ITEM_FSTYPE="ext3"
# mounting options
ITEM_FSOPTIONS="noatime,ro"
# Use the Mer linuxrc to continue to Boot (IMPORTANT for Mer)
ITEM_LINUXRC="linuxrc"

(Note: why jbd module needed?)